Metal News for March 24, 2007

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13 news articles posted on this day.

After struggling for years with addiction, Trent Reznor got clean and sober a few years back and released 2005's 'With Teeth'. While Nine Inch Nails fans are used to waiting almost five years between full albums from the band, here comes 'Year Zero' just about two years later. Reznor recently spoke to Gigwise about his current state of mind:

"I can see now with pretty much crystal clear clarity that that aspect had governed my life. I had made writing out to be a terrifying prospect filled with pain and failure and some things that I dreaded doing because I’ve always lacked self-confidence and every other thing," he said, while on tour in Europe. "By the end of my run with drugs I’d also realized that my brain wasn’t functioning right and I’d lost the power to really concentrate – it really made my art suffer, which made me feel worse, which made me want to get high and you know, that cycle starts up."

Helmet frontman Page Hamilton spoke with Australia's Time Off magazine about the bands return in 2005 after disbanding in 1997, and how tensions between himself and former bassist Henry Bogdan and drummer John Stanier prevented the original line-up staying in tact. "That was just a matter of there being a lot of water under the bridge," Hamilton admitted. "We'd been together for ten years, and we never really worked on our personal relationships at all. Communication is huge in a band, and you can't really underestimate the importance of it. People often accuse me of being a control freak, which I think isn't fair. It's just that I'm better than they are [mocking seriousness]! There are always issues, life is constantly throwing things at you. But I think now I'm better at dealing with things right when something happens."

MTV.com has a in-depth article and discussion with Porcupine Tree frontman Steven Wilson in which he ponders the impact of information technology on today's generation, talks about the upcoming "Fear of a Blank Planet" as well as his project with Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt (expected to surface in 2008) and a few other of the seven projects he is currently involved in.

Here's an excerpt about Porcupine Tree's upcoming album:

Fear of a Blank Planet, the follow-up to 2005's Deadwing, is a 50-minute suite of six tracks that features guest spots from Rush's Alex Lifeson and King Crimson's Robert Fripp. Wilson said the LP is more potent than any of the Tree's previous offerings. "It's a very intense listen," he admitted. "There isn't really any what you would call 'light relief' on this record in terms of songs you could take out and kind of get played on the radio. It's very intense, it's very dark, and it's really taking the whole idea of album-oriented rock music to the next level.

"It was very much conceived in the way bands used to conceive of records in the '70s, where you've got two sides of vinyl, and you can lay down a piece of music which is around the 50-minute mark, which plays in a continuous way, and deals with the same subject matter, and tried to kind of immerse you in a world for that time. That's always been the Porcupine Tree way, but we've definitely taken it to the next level."

“Slow Train Coming” is unmixed and unmastered and one of several that the band is considering for their new album. It has been publicly aired only once before, during MANIAC’s guest slot in February on the popular Norwegian Metal programme Tinitus which airs once a week on the NRK P3 station.

Work is continuing on the new album, which will include appearances by a number of guest musicians, and MANIAC anticipates taking SKITLIV on the road once the album is released.

MANIAC has also just finished recording vocals on a track for the forthcoming album by Swedish band DEADWOOD, due to be released shortly on the UK Cold Spring Label.

Never one to avoid controversy, MANIAC made a recent, and very bloody, appearance at the SHINING gig in Sweden, along with the likes of CARPATHIAN FOREST’s NATTEFROST. A show that caused considerable outrage and hit the headlines both in the press and on Swedish television.

This will be the first record to showcase the arrival of their new drummer Derek Jay after Brian "Bubba" Joyce’s departure late last year. “Shadows Of Vanity” was tracked with longtime producer John Ellis and diligently mixed by Mark Lewis of Audio Hammer Studios (TRIVIUM, BURY YOUR DEAD, GOD FORBID) and will be mastered by Tom Morris @ Morrisound.

The album will also see acclaimed graphic designer and artist Paul Romano (MASTODON, TRIVIUM, THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD) handling the art for “Shadows of Vanity!”

In other news, on the heels of finishing up a full US tour with Victory Record’s The Autumn Offering, HELL WITHIN guitarist Tony Zimmerman will now be endorsed by Dean Guitars.

ARCH ENEMY frontwoman Angela Gossow has commented on guitarist Christopher Amott's decision to return to the band almost two years after he left the group at the end of the "Doomsday Machine" recording sessions in 2005.

"Yessssss, I can finally blurt it out: HE IS BACK!" she writes on her MySpace page. "Our brother Chris has returned to his rightful place, that is being a guitar hero in ARCH ENEMY! It was hard to sit on the news for all these weeks. 'Cuz really all I wanted to do was running up and down the streets and cry it out loud. It felt so wrong without him, although Fredrik [?kesson] is a wonderful guy and a great talent. But Chris [Amott] and Michael started this band together and they are ARCH ENEMY for me. Their signature guitar work is what got me into this band in the first place. Plus, we missed Chris dearly as a person, as a great friend. He is out of school and back into rock 'n' roll!"

Christopher surprised many by departing ARCH ENEMY at the end of the "Doomsday Machine" recording sessions in 2005, having been in the band for 10 years (starting with ARCH ENEMY at age 18). Christopher followed his urge to see the outside world and find what else is out there apart from music. Having done that, the time is right for him to return to the fold with a newly injected bite and focus and to resume his career.

Commenting on the re-grouping announcement he states: "This is very exciting for me, returning to ARCH ENEMY as a full-time member! Right now we are working on our forthcoming album and I'm very pleased about the way it's turning out. The new songs are fast and furious with lots of melody! To all the people who sent me kind messages while I was out of the band, thank you for your support, it helped me a lot. After this (much needed) two-year break, I'm looking forward to getting back on the road. I hope to see you all later this year!"

ARCH ENEMY has spent the last weeks locked in intense rehearsals at its homebase in Halmstad, Sweden, putting the final touches to the new material and integrating Christopher on the new songs for the forthcoming studio album.

The second Myopia album "Enter Insectmasterplan" has been reissued on Selfmadegod Records. Previously self-released in 2005, "Enter Insectmasterplan" has already made a buzz amongst fans of technical and unconventional thrash metal crafted with mathematical precision and dexterity. Myopia, who has been around for more than 10 years now, prepared their own atomic dose of music with a lot of suspense, drawing inspiration from both Voivod and the likes of Pestilence, Atheist or Cynic.

"Enter Insectmasterplan" was produced by Szymon Czech of Nyia and Third Degree fame

Antigama from Warsaw, Poland and Drugs Of Faith from Virginia, USA team up for a split disc inspired by the Napalm Death / Coalesce split, In Tongues We Speak. Following in the footsteps of that bi-national split of grindcore and hardcore, Selfmadegod Records from Poland is poised to release the Antigama / Drugs Of Faith split 3"CD on an eager world audience.

The three songs representing Antigama's share of the CD are the last ones that the band is issuing before the awaited Relapse debut full-length, Resonance, which, as Relapse describes on its website, is "certain to drive the listener to frenzied extremes never before experienced." Antigama turns in two original songs packed full of its trademark sound and a cover of a classic Goblin song.

As for Drugs Of Faith, this power-trio delivers three new tracks that offer a taste of what the future full-length on Selfmadegod is shaping up to resemble. The band has new surprises up its sleeve, having churned out spanking new material for this team up with Antigama that takes its sound further down the road hinted at with the self-titled mini-album, both musically and lyrically.

Not content to have two bands from the same obvious genres or sharing the same influences go head to head on a split, as often happens, Antigama and Drugs Of Faith's individual sounds play against each other, resulting in a jolt for the listener as the tracks alternate between the two bands on Selfmadegod's latest release. With Antigama awaiting the arrival of its Relapse full-length and Drugs Of Faith supporting the LP version of its mini-album (which features two bonus tracks), the split 3"CD should be a must for fans of either or both groups.

An old hand at steering grindcore in the studio, Szymon Czech (Nyia, Third Degree, Antigama), has mastered this double-barrel disc due on March 26 2007.

Long-running Swedish metallers ENTOMBED will release their new album, "Serpent Saints – The Ten Amendments", later in the year through Threeman Recordings via a special arrangement with Candlelight Records. The 10-song effort will mark the group's first release with drummer Olle Dahlstedt (Alpha Safari, ex-Misery Loves Co.), who replaced Peter Stjärnvind in 2006.

Commented the band: "We're mixing right now and the devil is smiling. Yesterday we got final mixes on the songs 'In The Blood' and 'The Dead, The Dying And The Dying To Be Dead' with top man Soren Elofsson at the console. He's helping us tweak the mix and will most likely master the beast at Cosmos Mastering, Stockholm, Sweden, later this month.

"So, where are we coming from on this album? Same place as always. Always the one constant . . . something from the cunt/cock and something for the clock, i.e. something for the gray between the ears and something for the primal forces below the waist and possibly something for the spot a little off centre in the chest.

"Musically 'Serpents Saints' goes wider and deeper than the 'When In Sodom' EP but it's a pretty good indicator. It's no concept album but an ambitious attempt at creating a solid album with some reoccurring themes. Almost like the sound track to the film with the same name. Get the picture? You don't need to.

"Without getting too philosophical and/or, God forbid, preachy, who the fuck needs that? 'Serpent Saints' on one plane deals with serpents (snakes, devils) and saints and how to separate the two. Can you? Are they the same, like most things and people, both good and bad depending on . . the weather and quantity and most importantly — on which side of the fence you are positioned. God and bad and/or positively evil. Most things/people are definitely both, and most in denial and/or ignorance — bliss, they say. Get it? Or should we Ying-yang you some more? No. Fuck meaning and fuck truth and shake your butt, or don't

"It's definitely not no doomsday prophecy of how the world is coming to an end boring bullshit. Humans have been pretty much the same for as long as we know. Once born we eat, shit, piss, fuck, play video games and die and since basic instincts are hard to break, probably will be for as long as we're here. We [are] all winners, how strange it may sound, that start from zero and go as far as we can in the 100 years, or less, we're dealt before moving on to become a plant/angel/cow/worm (depending on belief) and/or some new kid who rolls into town to reinvent the wheel, again. So what else is new? Not much. Not You. Not me. Everybody knows! So far, so good, so what?! (Great title. Taken?) ... What's what? We say, enjoy the chaos!"

UNEARTH were the main attraction at last week's Adult Swim's Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theatres launch party in Austin TX.

UNEARTH have recorded the song "THE CHOSEN" for the forthcoming Aqua Teen Hunger Force feature film, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters ( in theaters on 4/13/2007) and the accompanying soundtrack Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Colon The Soundtrack (in stores on 4/10/2007).Straight after their stint in Austin, TX, the band headed to Europe to join forces with DAATH, DESPISED ICON, and Metal Blade Record's newest member to the family, JOB FOR A COWBOY on a tour that will lead into late April.

"We are all eager as fuck to headline the UK and Europe for the first time. We have done some amazing European tours before, but it will feel damn good to play a full set and put on our show for our friends overseas" says vocalist, Trevor Phipps "We are hitting up some smaller venues, most without barricades, so we can bring a real Unearth show to the people. We hand picked Job For a Cowboy, Despised Icon and Daath to make sure the entire bill was one that will keep the crowds looking over their shoulders at all times!"

UNEARTH will then make their way back to the US for the highly anticipated tour with DIMMU BORGIR, DEVILDRIVER and KATAKLYSM.

"After the headlining run we come right back home for a North American tour with Dimmu Borgir, Devildriver and Kataklysm. We haven't hit the road with Dimmu since the 2004 Ozzfest, so it will be good to get out there and do it again in a club setting. Devil Driver is always a great band to share the stage with and Kataklysm is one of the best death metal bands around today" enthuses Phipps "This tour is going to be an un-fucking-real diverse clash of heavy music... good times ahead!"

1349's show in Sudbury, Ontario on April 5th (at the Jubilee Centre) has been canceled, as the promoter went out of business. As previously reported, 1349's upcoming headline tour of North America with GOATWHORE, NACHTYMYSTIUM and AVERSE SEFIRA, kicked off yesterday in Tampa, FL (March 23rd). Confirmed dates include: